New hire will shape future of FGCU women's basketball

There's a lot of people that question could apply to. Roger Goodell on about a dozen issues. LeBron James and free agency. Johnny Manziel and the weekend. Yet the person I'm most fascinated with right now is Karl Smesko.

Granted, I'm easily fascinated.

All kidding aside, the reason I'm watching what the only women's basketball coach FGCU has ever had does now, in the middle of the offseason no less, is because he and his program have never been in the situation they are in now.

First, FGCU is under attack from the rest of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Eagles won the conference title after back-to-back overtime wins vs. Stetson by a combined 3 points. A Stetson team that has since added two transfers from major college programs.

The Hatters will be the preseason pick next year to win the A-Sun not FGCU.

If that's not bad enough, Jacksonville University has landed one major college recruit and will reportedly get another. Throw in a 20-win Northern Kentucky program that whacked FGCU by 20 points last year, and the days of the A-Sun being a pushover conference appear over.

Secondly, Smesko has to combat all this while he searches for a new recruiting coordinator. Ah yes, recruiting. The one area the rest of the A-Sun feels FGCU is vulnerable. Which is more than a bit ironic, considering Smesko is an elite coach and FGCU's campus has a beach on it. On paper the Eagles should crush the competition in recruiting. Yet FGCU has become a Top 60 program with top 150 recruiting classes.

Which is why the news this past Tuesday that FGCU had landed Kady Schrann from Vanderbilt is bigger than it seems. Much.

Schrann was a top 50 recruit out of high school. I'm not talking a top 50 recruit at her position or in her region. She was one of the best 50 players in the country! Yet, of all the places she could have gone for her final year of basketball, she chose FGCU.

Why?

At the end of the day for two reasons — Smesko and the beach.

Schrann, no matter if she ever plays a minute, no matter if she ever leads FGCU to NCAA Tournament success, has shown Smesko what he and FGCU are capable of becoming. Together.

Because if he can land one Kady Schrann, he can land an entire starting five that look just like her. To do that however takes a recruiting coordinator who goes on the trail and becomes an extension of Smesko and the beach. In the end, Smesko essentially has two choices.

He can stay in-house and promote Chelsea Lyles. Lyles was a terrific basketball and volleyball player for the Eagles. Who better to sell FGCU than someone who has already played and graduated from there? Bright, energetic and a quick learner, Lyles may be a diamond in the rough. Most importantly, Smesko knows her, likes her and trusts her.

Or Smesko can go with the apparent sure thing he doesn't know or trust. More than 100 coaches have applied to become the next FGCU recruiting coordinator. Sources tell me that at least three applicants have experience recruiting a class that finished ranked in the top 50. None of those people ever did so at a place that had a beach on campus. Theoretically, if they could recruit that well there, what could they do here?

Conversely, if FGCU could be a top 60 program with top 150 recruits, what kind of program could they be with top 50 recruits?

This hire will shape the long-term future of FGCU women's basketball. Two years from now, FGCU will have a MINIMUM of eight scholarship players to replace. We will look back 3-5 years from now and conclude, the program is what it is because of who was hired to be the recruiting coordinator in 2014.

This is a moment when Karl Smesko and FGCU's biggest dreams are closer to reality than they've ever been before.

What is he going to do next?

David Moulton co-hosts "Miller and Moulton in the Afternoon" weekdays 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on 99.3 ESPN. His freelance column appears Sunday and Thursday. You can email David at dmoulton@news-press.com.